Welcome to our work in progress--although we are over 10 years old and counting. We hope we have become a popular forum for you (wherever you may be) to share with us your comments and ideas, and/or to read what others have to say.

We are not competing with media sources that try to present the news in a timely fashion. But we hope to cover events of special interest and present an approach to the news that is unique. When planning your month, if you live in the Southwest Missouri area, be sure to check our monthly calendar of events.

Please add our website to your list of favorites and to register if you wish to submit an article or leave your comments either in the general forum or in a thread which follows every article. (And, of course, we'd like you to pass our website address on to your friends and family.)

It should be noted that each letter to the editor must be signed with the writer's name, and his or her address and phone number be included for our records.

Forum comments may be listed under an alias. "By" shown with each article or forum comment may refer to someone submitting the article or comment rather than its author. The author's name, if different than the submitter, should then appear within the posting.

We do not give individual credit to our staff who edit and post articles. Their work is grouped under "admin2" or "staff."

We may be reached by clicking on the "Contact Us" under "Resources" on our homepage.

For all press releases not sent by e-mail attachment, we offer this snail mail address: THE JOPLIN INDEPENDENT, POB 2203, Nixa, MO 65714.

Do not ask us for price quotes on advertising. We are a non-commercial media source. If you wish to post a classified ad, that currently also is free; please be sure to include your full name, address, and phone number for our records. We will not publish your ad without that information. Of course, we reserve the right to edit or not run anything we deem inappropriate.